Income was generated from operating short and long-term car parks in Dublin and Cork

State-owned DAA earned €36 million in revenues from its car parks at Dublin and Cork airports in 2015.

The DAA does not publish figures annually for its car-parking revenues but data is provided in a prospectus filed for €400 million in loan notes issued by the airport manager last year and which are due to mature in 2028.

This income represented about 5 per cent of the group’s turnover in 2015, and about 15 per cent of the two airports’ commercial revenues, the document states.

According to the prospectus, some 83 per cent of activity at Dublin Airport’s car park was from online bookings in that year. This figure has since hit about 90 per cent.

The only other time a figure for car par revenues was published by the DAA was a decade ago when it revealed that it had earned €52 million from car parks in Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports. Shannon has since become independent of the DAA.

Passenger increase

The revenue figure is likely to have risen last year given that passenger numbers rose by 11 per cent to almost 28 million in Dublin, and also increased at Cork.

A spokesman for DAA said: “The group’s car parking revenue for 2007 reflected the market at the height of the economic boom. DAA operated three airports at the time and Shannon Airport, which is no longer part of DAA, had 3.6 million passengers in 2007.

“There were about 1 million people taking domestic flights between Dublin and Cork at that point, most of whom availed of short-term parking.

The DAA charges up to €4.50 an hour and up to €40 a day to use its short-term car parks in Dublin Airport, and up to €9.50 a day for its long-term facilities. In Cork, the DAA charges €2.50 an hour for short term, up to a maximum of €17.50 a day, and up to €10.50 a day for its long-term facilities.